1945
by Sunni Praestans
Summary: Allies Boyband AU- Arthur and Alfred must cope with their blooming attraction to each other in full public view


Most people fall in love in a fairly simple way.

First they meet, usually at university or via friends. Then they become friends and they reach a point where they either become best friends or a tentative romance blossoms. One gathers up the courage to ask the other out and then a date happens. A few dates later, they go steady and the romance blooms into love. Maybe, they'll get married.

Or maybe, none of this will happen because you're gay or famous. Or both.

When my band 1945 hit big in the charts (and with the teenage girl population) my brother Matthew, our manager, warned me of how careful I had to be when it came to life in general. Everything was observed by the masses, as pure entertainment often equals pure profit. Everything we do, every word we say affects sales. I said I always knew this, but as it turned out I really didn't.

I only decided to start a band in my second year of university. Unfortunately, majoring in IT with a minor in European History, I didn't know too many musicians. Fortunately, I had friends who did. Matthew's boyfriend, Gilbert, drank with a guy named Francis, who played guitar. I began contact with him fairly soon afterwards, even though I was concerned whether I should believe the rumours about how art and French students behaved. As it turned out, I should've, as he was quite lecherous when you met him, but I persisted with him because I knew no one else. Eventually he became an okay guy, once I got to know him and made it very clear I was not interested.

We asked around a bit more, hoping we'd have more luck in Francis's circles. Surprisingly, we found the next two members because of a friend I met in IT, Kiku Honda. His cousin, Yao, was a drummer and Yao's friend, Ivan, was pianist. Ivan and I got along like oil and water, but I was taking what I was given.

At this point, all we needed was a lead singer. Here, Kiku managed to be another god send, as he said he knew just the man. Francis also seemed to know the man, laughing upon hearing his name (I didn't approve of it, 'Arthur Kirkland' wasn't that funny.) We met, and it turned out Arthur was the short guy who had collapsed in European History one day because he'd worked too hard. We got on okay, the substance of our ten minute relationship bickering. I wasn't really sure I would let Arthur join- Ivan being creepy was one thing, but if this was what Arthur was like this all the time….

Nevertheless, I asked him to sing for me. He had a frankly awesome voice- a weird blend of choir boy and punk rocker. Then I knew that no matter how annoying the guy was, we needed him in the band.

Arthur came up with the name of the band- 1945. That had been a long discussion, with Ivan insisting every second minute that the band name be 'The Sunflowers'. We eventually settled on 1945 after Arthur's explanation- we had an American, an Englishman, a Frenchman, a Russian and a Chinese man. These were the core members of the Allies during World War Two and the Allies won in 1945, hence the name.

We were on a fairly good roll- we were popular around the university, we were all asked on more dates then we knew what to do with (yes, even Ivan- apparently girls have a thing for tall, stupid and creepy). Eventually, I got used to it- even the fact guys asked me out on dates.

Arthur and I grew closer at the same time. Arthur seemed to be nicer person than when he first joined- at least, he was around me. He and Francis couldn't stay in the same room together unless we were all there. We eventually came up with a rule they weren't allowed to speak to each other. Francis ignored this rule, even though Arthur was quite happy for it to be enforced. Those two bicker like nobody's business but that's not what you care about if you're reading this.

About a year after the band formed, someone had caught wind of our little group. Matthew one day came into rehearsal, none of us actually noticing him until half way through a song. Mattie was overly excited; he was properly smiling. After smacking me up the back of the head for asking if he'd finally been laid, he'd told us that an A&R group from EU Recording Industries was coming to see tonight's show. Everyone had different reactions- Arthur began to panic, Francis smirked, I whooped, Yao was all 'We better continue preparing, aru' and Ivan did absolutely nothing except continue 'smiling'.

_Upon arriving to the uni bar that night, we were louder than we usually were; even Arthur was joking around with us. We all knew it was nerves; the only other time we had been like this was our first gig. We worked through our best songs- a French pop lullaby, a rock song Arthur composed using Shakespeare's sonnets and a song based on 8-Bit music, amongst others. The whole time I kept a wary eye on Matthew, who was sitting with two men in suits- far more formal than the other people in the bar. _

_After the performance, we (as in the band) introduced ourselves to the A&R. I can't really remember the names- John Smith and Joe Bloggs or something. It didn't really matter- Arthur and Matty did most of the negotiating. We sealed a deal and had a 3 hour recording the next month. The recording itself was fairly uneventful, as Francis only hit on the receptionist. _

We were in the top 50 within six months. In the next twelve months, our faces were plastered everywhere. We got so much fanmail that we couldn't reply to it all. Yes, even Ivan (girls still had a thing for tall, stupid and creepy). It didn't take much time for us to be taken on tour. We toured around America, to places I'd never seen before; even with all the road trips I'd been on with Matty as kids.

The tour was eventful, with fangirls and boys crowding for autographs, late nights that eventually turned into early mornings and an awful lot of flirting. The flirting was what stood out the most to me, as it was some sort of playful banter I had with Arthur.

It drove a small part of me crazy. It drove the rest of me absolutely insane. At first it was adding a sarcastic 'darling' to the end of every sentence, but there just came a point that it wasn't sarcastic anymore. At first it was a stupid bow and a 'Care to dance, milady?', but then when I started to feel butterflies in my stomach when Arthur laughed… well.

I tried to pass it off as close friendship, but I wasn't stupid.

I held this deep, deep hope that he might fancy me too. After all, my grandmother always said that what you feel for someone is probably what they feel for you. But chances are it was more probably unrequited.

This didn't stop me in the least. After our last performance Arthur and I were walking back to the hotel from a bar after our last gig, ready for a long night of sleep before getting on the plane home the next day. So, with the added help of being hammered, I asked Arthur on a date. His face seemed to go a deeper shade than his normal inebriated one and he had a little glimmer in his eye.

I think he said 'Yes', but I kissed him anyway. Honestly, I forgot I was on a fairly busy street at that moment. As cliché as it is, I forgot the world around me at that point in time.

But that's probably the alcohol speaking.

The next morning when I was eating breakfast, Matthew burst into the room, absolutely freaking out. I didn't even get a chance to ask what had happened when he dumped a paper on the table. It took me a moment to realise the picture was of Arthur and I kissing.

"Ah." was my immediate reaction.

"Well, that's… different."

"Just a bit."

Mattie slumped against the table. "Alfred, what are we going to _do_?"

I couldn't answer the question until the next time it was asked.

Arthur looked at me expectantly.

"Well, we could, y'know, date?"

"But we can't!" Arthur looked slightly exasperated.

"Why not?"

"Because of the fucking band! If we date, it'll be the end of the band!"

"Why?"

"Because, if you hadn't noticed, we're both guys! And that makes us, I don't know, homosexual? That's not really accepted, Alfred!"

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?"

Arthur looked at his feet.

"_Tonight on Celebrity Watch we're being joined by Arthur Kirkland and Alfred Jones from the band 1945. Since the announcement of their relationship, they've been a focus of a fair bit of attention." _

_The presenter turned to the two men on the couch. The larger one had an arm around the waist of the smaller. A notice came up at the bottom of the screen reading their names._

"_So, Alfred, Arthur, how long have the two of you been dating?"_

"_Two years now," replied Alfred, the larger one. He tightened his grip on his boyfriend._

_The presenter grinned. "Now, our fans would all like to know how you really got together."_

_Alfred's grin fell slightly and both of the men grew a light shade of scarlet. Alfred scratched the back of his head. _

"_Well, it's a bit…"_

_Arthur cut in with "It's like a bad fanfiction, honestly."_

_Alfred laughed, looking at the man next to him, and retorted with a "Thanks for that, Artie."_

_Alfred turned to the camera. "Well, we got together after the picture of us kissing was released. After that shit-"_

"_Alfred!"_

"_Sorry. Anyway, after that happened, we got to think about what we wanted- we didn't have to keep up appearances as they'd already been smashed to pieces. And, what we wanted was each other. As soon as I got Arthur to realise this and we knew the band were cool with it, we tried it out and it worked… really well."_

_The presenter had a similar smile to Alfred at that point- the goofy smile you get when you hear something so sweet your insides turn to mush. The visuals of the two half cuddling on the couch didn't help her, either._

"_What's all the attention like?"_

_Alfred chuckled. "Ha, Artie and I manage to ignore most of it. Of course, reading the occasional letter from a 'Concerned Parent and/or Guardian' is always hilarious."_

_Arthur mutters something. If you listen closely, you'll hear it's "Homophobic wankers." He cleared his throat and said clearly "It's not too bad- as long as you ignore the stupid people, it's no different than the normal attention we would get."_

_The presenter smiled and glanced at the sheet in front of her. "So, what's the best letter you've ever received, in that case?"_

_Arthur answered this one. "Well, it was from a five year old girl named Emily…"_

_Alfred put his head in his hands and laughed. Arthur just had this massive grin on his face. _

"_It was written quite well, and it was enquiring into when Alfred and I would be marrying and when to expect us having our first child. Then she went on to ask about the love lives of the rest of the band members, before saying we were the best band ever. It was really quite endearing."_

"_Yeah, it was one of the few we had shown to the others in the band," added Alfred. "If you're watching, thank you! We carry that letter with us on tour."_

_The presenter checked her watch. "Hah, times almost up, but is there anything else you want to say to your fans?"_

_Arthur gave a rather cheeky smirk. "Well, I know why half the people are watching. Alfred?"_

"_Yes?"_

_Alfred looked at Arthur, who had twisted around to face him. Arthur leant up and quickly kissed the taller man._

_The taller man blushed._

"…_Okay then."_

_The presenter smothered her mouth with her hand. "Well, thank you very much for joining us today."_

_She turned to the camera._

"_And that's Celebrity Watch for today! Tomorrow we'll be joined by Roderich Edelstein and Elizabeta Hedervary. And watch out for 1945's new album, 'Allies', coming out next May!"_


End file.
